Photoshop is the industry leader in digital art software. But now Adobe released a free mobile editing app. Photoshop Express is not the same as Photoshop, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not as good. Is Photoshop Express worth it? Here are 10 reasons why you should consider getting PS Express on your phone or tablet!
There’s Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, InDesign, Illustrator, … – and there’s Photoshop Express.
Adobe Photoshop is the industry-leading digital art software, used by creative professionals and hobbyists around the world.
Photoshop is available as part of a Creative Cloud subscription. Adobe offer three different pricing plans to choose from, depending on your artistic requirements. The most affordable is the Photography Plan for US$9.99 per month. You will get Photoshop, Lightroom, and Lightroom Classic as well as 20 GB of cloud storage.
For more extensive creative needs, there is the All Apps Plan that gives you access to all of Adobe’s software programs. Students and teachers can benefit from a generous 60% on all applications.
In any case, you can always try Photoshop FREE for 14 Days before committing!
Is Photoshop Express the same as Photoshop?
Photoshop Express is an editing app for iOS and Android phones and tablet devices that features many of the tools you know from the Photoshop desktop version.
Is Photoshop Express free? Yes, the basic Express version is completely free. PS Express Premium does cost a fee, but it’s very affordable.
Is Photoshop Express good? While Photoshop Express is not the same as Photoshop, it still offers powerful capabilities for editing your photos on the go – wherever you are.
Is Photoshop Express worth it? That’s what you can find out in this article.
Down below, you will find 10 reasons why Photoshop Express may be worth getting. Read on and then decide whether using it on your smartphone or tablet is a good choice for you!
Is Photoshop Express as good as Photoshop?
As I mentioned above, Photoshop Express is a mobile app for iOS and Android devices that you can download in various app stores, such as the Apple Store and Google Play.
Photoshop Express was developed for smartphone photography and editing. The tools allow you to make quick edits on your phone or tablet. You can apply filters and effects, add text to your images, change exposure, brightness, saturation, and more.
While the mobile app is not as powerful as the desktop version, it comes with some pretty amazing features. So let’s see whether Photoshop Express is worth it!
10 Reasons why Photoshop Express is worth it
REASON 1: You can edit on the go.
The main benefit of Photoshop Express is that it allows you to edit on the move – on your smartphone or tablet, wherever you are.
Using Photoshop Express on your iPad or iPhone with the Apple Pencil works wonders to quickly create some cool edits.
While you want to make more complex edits on a bigger screen, PS Express is particularly great for basic modifications and portrait retouching.
Related: 10 Best Apps For Editing Photos On iPhone & Android
REASON 2: The basic version is free.
Adobe Photoshop Express is really free. Unlike with Photoshop CC, you don’t need a Creative Cloud subscription.
You can download the app for free from your app store, and you’ll get access to all the features and updates of the basic version.
What you need to do is create a free Adobe account, which will also allow you to use a limited version of Lightroom Mobile.
REASON 3: You can use all the standard editing features.
Even though Photoshop Express won’t reach the level of editing of Photoshop CC, it still comes with top-notch features. After all, the app was developed by the market-leading company.
Photoshop Express provides all the standard features that you need for photo editing. For example, you can adjust brightness, exposure, highlights, shadows, color temperature, tint, and saturation.
Bearing in mind that Photoshop Express is free and doesn’t use up much storage space on your phone, it’s actually very good.
Related: How To Make A Photo Warmer In Photoshop – 5 EASY WAYS
REASON 4: You can add premium features.
If you are not happy with the basic set of features, you can upgrade to Photoshop Express Premium.
PS Express Premium doesn’t cost a whole lot of money. For US$4.99 per month or US$34.99 per year, you get the premium license on your mobile device.
You will get access to all the tools marked with a blue star. These include selection tools, layers, noise reduction, dehaze, and HSL editing. You will also be able to use more overlays, effects, and themes.
REASON 5: You can resize and compress your images.
Unlike many other mobile editing apps, Photoshop Express lets you choose the size and quality of your file before saving it.
You can choose from different JPEG compression formats, so your photos will never be too large to easily upload them to your social media or artist website.
The cropping tool comes with a number of common aspect ratios. What’s more, Photoshop Express has presets to crop your images in the typical sizes used for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Etsy.
Many of these options offer various sub-options. When cropping for Facebook, for instance, you can pick from Page Cover, Event Cover, Profile Cover, Profile, or Ad. Can it be any more convenient?
REASON 6: You can create collages.
The PS Express user interface is very straightforward. There are three buttons at the top: Edit, Collage, and Mix.
Collages are very popular for social posts, and Photoshop Express offers you a wide array of options to combine your images.
The free version offers a good selection of layouts. If you want more fancy things like rectangles and other shapes, you’ll need to upgrade to the premium version.
The premium Scrapbook option lets you cut out a subject from a photo and place it on a new background. Preset text overlays, borders, and stickers provide more variety for your collages.
Mix offers other more advanced tools like subject selection, local edits, and blending modes to combine multiple images in layers.
- Grab your FREE Photoshop Blend Modes Cheat Sheet
REASON 7: You can easily share your photos.
Photoshop Express is not only ideal to create quick content for social media, but also to share your photos across your different social media accounts.
For example, you can quickly make small retouches on your mobile device, like getting rid of red eyes and other blemishes, and then share your photo directly from the app.
You can also send your image to the next printer or add a watermark to protect your work from being stolen online.
REASON 8: You can work with RAW files.
RAW is the file format that professional photographers use.
If you have a camera, you probably know that each brand uses its own RAW files. Canon, for example, uses CRW/CR2/CR3, while Nikon uses NEF/NRW. A standard and open-source RAW format is DNG, which is also what you get if you use Lightroom Mobile to take captures.
All RAW formats save the original data of the photo prior to processing. That means you have way more editing possibilities and all edits are non-destructive.
RAW file sizes tend to be huge, so keep that in mind when storing them on your phone, but it’s absolutely possible to edit them in Photoshop Express.
REASON 9: You can apply themes and effects.
Photoshop Express comes with a ton of themes and effects for any kind of occasion.
There’s a myriad of different effects, such as bokeh, grunge, and rainbow textures. Many of the new advanced editing features are for face retouches.
You will find tools to smooth and heal the skin. The face recognition tool will let you adjust the angle of a head, add a smile, and play with the contouring.
Another fun thing is the Caricature option that allows you to exaggerate the facial features, such as forehead, mouth, nose, and jaw.
Just like the desktop version of Photoshop, PS Express Premium has a Liquify tool to reshape, twirl and bloat elements.
REASON 10: You can send PSD files directly to Photoshop CC.
If you want to make more extensive edits, then switching to the Photoshop or Lightroom desktop app is the better solution.
Photoshop Express allows you to save your files in the native PSD format and to import them to your desktop software.
Working with a bigger screen and a drawing tablet makes detailed modifications easier.
That means your photos can start out as cool edits made on your smartphone and transform into complex manipulations that you continue in your desktop app.
However, considering the large size of PSD files, you usually don’t want to import files from Photoshop CC into Photoshop Express.
My name is Angie and I’m a self-taught digital artist. On this blog, I am sharing my knowledge and discussing the best software and hardware for different artistic needs. My desire is to offer options for all creative stages and budgets so that everyone can follow their dream and create art!
